Creative Engineering

Bottle fed on code, Corey Hearne is part of a new breed of web developers – a generation that has been brought up on HTML, WordPress and SEO. Corey thinks differently and, as his clients are finding out, he knows a thing or two about website design.

Why is the company called Cog?
There’s a few of us involved in the business and when we were deciding about branding, we had a brainstorm about the company name. We batted a few names around and we whittled it down to three possible options. We each then drew a possible logo to go with the names and Cog eventually came out on top. That’s also how we came up with the logo. It’s simple, we’re part of the machine – the client’s machine. We work better together.

Describe what you do/offer…
We’re a full service digital design agency. We try to offer businesses, or individuals, the complete package when it comes to any branding, web design or social media. It can become quite a mess when you’ve got one company doing one job and another doing something else. We keep everything in-house and that really helps us promote a brand in a co- ordinated and coherent way.

Are you formally trained?
My background is website development and there’s no formal qualification for that. Anybody can get into developing websites, you just need to be a little bit crazy because there’s a lot of code involved! Our Creative Director has over 30 years of experience working at some of the world’s best design and advertising agencies. We know what we’re doing. We’re no mugs.

Why would a business come to you?
We’re always open and honest about the whole process. No design speak, no fluff, no nonsense – we believe our approach is a refreshing change to the ‘usual’.

Do you offer eCommerce?
Yes certainly! With businesses looking to offer their services through the web with minimal fuss and online stores popping up ten to the dozen, it would be silly for us not to! There tends to be a lot more work involved when developing an eCommerce website but the companies who we have worked with so far have had fresh ideas about how to market their products and that’s really satisfying.

Describe your approach to business?
Just be open and honest. Whether it’s when you’re having a quick chat with someone you’re working with or giving a presentation to a potential new client. We’ve found the types of clients who we enjoy working with are those who are open and honest too and that helps us build trust with them. I think we have the right approach – people seem to like it.

What mistakes do people/businesses commonly make with their websites?
We’ve seen websites where the company hasn’t put any of their contact information, where links for news articles are broken and text that’s so small it can’t read. The worst website mistake a business can make is not having a responsive site that’s compatible on all mobile devices. With 1.2 billion people across the world accessing the web through their phones, it’s a no brainer for a website to be mobile and tablet friendly.

What other services do you offer?
We predominately offer branding, graphics and website creation. We also offer SEO (search engine optimisation) and content management for websites and social media. We’re also branching out into app development, with the way people are using mobile technology, it only seems right for businesses to offer a mobile application.

Are you busy? What kinds of businesses are you working with?
Cog started properly at the beginning of last year and we’re getting busier. We’re always looking to take on exciting new projects and really enjoy working with people who are passionate about their business or service. We’ve built up a varied client base and with that an exciting portfolio. From recruitment agencies and local hairdressers to physiotherapy clinics and even a local builder – we’re really trying to reach out into as many sectors as possible. It’s really about people – if we like you, we’ll work with you.

Are you expensive?
Good branding or a great website doesn’t have to cost a fortune. We have clients who have literally junked their old websites after talking to us. Why spend money trying to fix something that’s so awful when, for a third of the cost, you can have a brand new one?

What advice would you give to anyone starting out in business?
Try to get as much help as possible from those who have experienced starting their own business.

Are you happy working for yourself? What do you like about it?
Yes, definitely! There’s something extremely satisfying about running your business. It’s not for everyone. You have to be driven. Waking up every morning knowing that you are your own boss is pretty cool.

What have you learned so far in business?
When running your own business always take time to work ‘on’ it and not just ‘in’ it.